Washington State has quite a large drug problem. The national average for people who have tried illegal drugs was 8 percent while Washington's was above 10 percent. This might not seem that bad, unfortunately 70 percent of all those arrested in Seattle have some type of drug in their system. This could either be meth, heroin, cocaine, or marijuana. While being above the national average this can't be good for the legal system or the Washingtonian taxpayer. Plus having 10 percent of the population addicted to a substance is not detrimental to all society. This only breads a culture of corruption and crime. Bringing these numbers down benefits everyone, especially the people addicted. This problem needs to be addressed.

There are forms of treatment, however. 38,000 people were admitted to a rehabilitation facility in 2010, two thirds of which are male while the rest are female. While alcoholic admission rates have been decreasing over the past 20 years drug related addictions have been going up. In 1998, only 11 percent of admitted were drug only addictions compared to 2005 where there was a 27% admission rate. Alcohol addictions dropped dramatically from 45 percent to just 19 percent in a similar amount of time. The other 54% of attendees were addicted to both alcohol and some other form of drug.

While drug rehab arrests continue to climb, Meth lab seizures have gone down. In 2001, there were over 1,400 meth labs seized by authorities while in 2005 there were only 500 labs seized. Methamphetamine is the most problematic drug with dangers from manufacturing it and use being incredibly dangerous. When cooking in a meth lab there is a high likelihood of an explosion or a poisonous leak. Many meth labs are built inside family homes where young children live. This coupled with someone affected by the drug make it extremely unsafe for a child. In fact, Washington is among the top five states in meth lab seizures.

Marijuana is now legal for medical reasons in the state in a step to only go after the harder drugs, but there are still plenty of people admitted for marijuana addiction. Over 8,000 of the 38,000 of those admitted into rehab were marijuana users. The largest age group among them was the 12-17 age groups. Marijuana has become one the more widely used drugs in the nation, especially with younger people. Coupling this with semi-legality in many states has only helped increase these numbers. Whether this is a good thing or not, the numbers show that more and more people are admitted for marijuana addiction each year. There are dozens of rehabilitation facilities in the state of Washington. While the numbers of relapses aren't clear, there are still many people who choose not to use drugs anymore. The only way to bring down the 10 percent number of drug users that Washington State has is better rehabilitation facilities. No amount of prison will make people cure themselves of addiction. Many criminals can get drugs in prison and some even try it for the first time while there. It is only with a better rehabilitation policy that we can make this state a better place for everyone to live.